Homing Ability

read somewhere recently that when a pigeon lands it lands against the wind....never realised if they did or not....??? any thoughts anyone....

Lets make a start i know

A map and compose

what about sat-nav....

Yes your right hope there's no speed cameras on the waywhich may slow them down

when you think about it there are a lot of factors involved in a race that is a disaster, if the weather turns nasty what is it that causes the birds to either get lost or give up......surely a bit of rain or wind shoulnt cause such problems....wonder if its because they cannot navigate due to the weather conditions if they navigate by the sun....
any thoughts anyone......

I know that radar totally interupt their navigation, i have read.
I believe sound of the earth plays a role, as ive read they could hear low sounds very well.
http://www.speedpigeon.com/training_racing.pigeon.htm

read that pigeons have very good eyesight and this helps with navigation, plus they have a very good memory....also it says they navigate by using the sun as a compass and if its cloudy as they are also very sensative to the wind they can use this instead.....only what ive read, any thoughts anyone ?

They look at the point of their beaks, and they follow it. That is true.

maybe, but how do they know which way to point their beak ?

Some things would never be understood, as there are also a GOD factor involved, maybe it started in noahs ark, when noah send out a dove , to return later on with evidence of lowering water levels.

get your piont niel.....a lot of what we read and hear is theory, people have their own opinions as to how they home or why they home....and what is good and what is bad.

DAVID wrote:

get your piont niel.....a lot of what we read and hear is theory, people have their own opinions as to how they home or why they home....and what is good and what is bad.

Hi David - Grizzle.

In spite of all the research that has been carried out over the years we still can only guess how birds navigate. I am convinced that they have an instinct which once developed never leaves them. Let me illustrate my point.
In every fanciers years of keeping pigeons there is always one bird or one incident that proves the instinct theory, mine was with a bird called Limpy.
Limpy was a dark Cheq. cock, a direct son of my German Fabry imports.
As a baby he raced several races in a rather disappointing way, never really showing whether or not he was trying. I lost him when we had a 'bad race' from about 150 miles, and at this point I was not too disappointed to have him missing. All his fellow loft mates flew the rest of the programme some went on to earn their perch, others still had a little to prove.
In the following year and during the later part of the YB season I was in the garden one day when my wife pointed out that we had a 'stranger' on the loft. Having seen so many lost birds in my time I felt that this event was another of many, but Hang On, this fellow was stood on my landing board as though he owned the place, not feather out of place, fully moulted and shining like a new marble! As I approached the loft he was a bit skitty but only moved away enough to let me know that he was wary of me.
As he moved I noticed that he had a limp in one of his legs and his right leg was twisted out at an angle, hardly noticable but it was there. Having seen this so many times I knew this was the result of a broken leg which he had probably sustained when he came out of the transporter on the day he was lost.
Out of curiosity, I opened the drop trap because I wanted to have a look at this fellow who was so much like many of my other birds and he took no catching when I approached him, he was just stood there as thoght he was saying ' Ready for duty Captain'
Nu 73 J 45968 was his number and my book showed he was indeed the bird I had lost as a YB. It was obvious that he had been living somewhere else and had been looked after by someone who knew what he was doing, perhaps he had been flying out and had become a firm favourite of his new keeper. I could not have conditioned him any better myself for he was show pen fit and he knew it. I believe he decided one day 'That this is the day I am going home'
I called him Limpy from that day,I didn't know where he had been and I didn't really care because I knew from that moment Limpy would be special and he knew he had a lot of making up to do.
For the rest of the year he just sat around looking as though he owned the place, never fighting but just looking as though he felt that the other loftmates owed him something!
As always, the old bird season came around (1975) and it was time to start training. Limpy was the one that I always looked for, I dont know why but you know when you have something special and during that season he never missed a beat. Every race he went to, if he didn't win the race he was
always at the top of the sheet, taking pools on 5 consecutive weeks with a card in every race. He was becoming so well known in the club and fed that many fanciers would not pool if he was pooled also.
When the Fed. had its longest inland race (Lymington right on the coast nr. Southampton) he went as the fittest pigeon I had ever owned, he won that race by Seventeen minutes before any other bird in the fed. He was now quite a much talked about pigeon and people asked me "how the hell do you breed a bird like that"? Later., in the season he went on to win over the channel twice and also top positions in the come back races. The big question was looming of what to do with this bird and it was not long before I had an offer to buy him by a syndicate in the South Shields area, in those days £500 was agreat deal of money but because he was the son of a direct import from Viktor Fabry himself they wanted him for stock.
I didn't sell him and a couple of weeks later I sent him to Le Mans, we had a smash race with only a handful of birds arriving home, none in race time, this was reported in the National Press that during that weekend some 40-50 thousand birds had gone missing and I am afraid that Limpy was one of them. For the next two years, every morning, I looked at my loft hoping to see him, I never did and I still miss him to this day because Limpy taught me a lesson that I will always remember that 'you can go to the well once too often' at that time I hadn't the sense to see it.
Limpy taught me alot, he was the one special pigeon that I will never forget even though I have had many other 'good uns'. He bred me birds, which I gave away to others, even those who raced in the same fed and club and those birds did for others what he had done for me.
Now I have restarted racing and I meet some of my old clubmates they remember Limpy as the pigeon you couldn't beat and there is no higher praise than that!
Limpy had 'Instinct' by the bucket load.
Chanco.

great story malcolm, enjoyed reading about "limpy", he certainly was one in a million. hopefully you will have as much success this time round with your new team....

Yes Chanco, very interresting story, what a pigeon limpy were!

just goes to show, even good pigeons get lost....im sure some of our members have also lost a winner and wondered if they had just pushed their luck once too often......

i think if i topped the fed id be scared to race the bird again....

DAVID wrote:

i think if i topped the fed id be scared to race the bird again....

Hi David,
All pigeons that show any promise have the potential to become great pigeons, but in the initial stages of their racing careers they are an unknown quantity and the only way to tap into that potential is to send them until you are very sure that they have 'earned' being stopped and put to stock.
Topping the Fed is always a 'chest swelling' occasion but also a short lived triumph because there is always the nagging doubt in your mind whether or not to risk losing the bird by sending it again. If you dont send it, then you will never know, if you do send it and lose it then it depends under which circumstances it was lost. If it was a smash race then you will be in the company of others who have lost top pigeons, if you lose it on a good day then there will always be doubt. My honest opinion is that you should never be afraid to send.
The only way to know if the water is hot is to stick your finger in!
Malcolm.

topped the fed last year sent it back the following week and lost it but thats what they are there for racing

you are a braver man than me ian.....although if i was in that situation i would most likely send it, as you say they are for racing and they need to earn their keep. and my reply was mainly joking....

yes i know david lost many good pigeons sending them toone too many races

it would be a great achievement tho topping the fed....did you breed any off your winner before you lost it ?

no but still got the parents

well thats just as good isnt it ian, or in some ways better ? you can maybe breed the same again hopefully.

yes its the parents you want anyway